


Safe & Sound

by TheBasilRathbone



Category: Schitt's Creek
Genre: Canadian Winters, Family, Fluff, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Husbands Taking Care of One Another, M/M, Patrick Brewer is the Third Rose Sibling, Patrick Brewer loves David Rose, Post-Season/Series 06, Rescue, Snowstorms, True Love, blink and you'll miss it angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-02
Updated: 2021-03-02
Packaged: 2021-03-14 18:27:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,747
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29796033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheBasilRathbone/pseuds/TheBasilRathbone
Summary: David grins, reaching out to pull Alexis into a too-tight hug. “I’m glad you’re okay,” he murmurs into her shoulder.“I’m glad you married Patrick,” she fires back, meeting Patrick's eye over David’s shoulder with a watery smile. “Sebastian defo would have let me freeze to death and then taken polaroids of my dead body for his next showing for some kind of ‘meditation on the fleeting nature of life.’”“Well, we’re all glad I didn’t marry Sebastian.”
Relationships: Alexis Rose & David Rose, Patrick Brewer & Alexis Rose, Patrick Brewer/David Rose
Comments: 19
Kudos: 217





	Safe & Sound

When he receives two calls back-to-back, he knows it’s David.

He was too groggy to pick up the first time, it’s past midnight after all, but when his phone goes silent for half a second and then starts vibrating again, it can only be one person.

David has been in Manitoba for a meeting with vendors for the last five days in anticipation of the North America-wide motel chain launch. It’s the longest they’ve ever been apart, besides one unfortunate week after Rachel’s visit, and while David has been able to keep his anxiety in check to an impressive degree, Patrick could hear the strain in his voice over the phone earlier today as he summarized the meetings and the timelines for securing each vendor. But even when everything had gone smoothly and the vendors seemed even more eager to secure a deal than they did, David couldn’t help but obsess over the hypotheticals of what could go wrong. He was honestly surprised he hadn’t already received a late-night call from his husband needing to be talked down from a panic spiral.

With a grunt, he half rose, fumbling along the edge of the bedside table before he manages to grab his cell and bring it to his ear. “Baby? Wha’s wrong?”

“Patrick?”

He lifted his head, pulling his phone away from his ear to check the caller ID. It wasn’t David after all. Fuck.

“Alexis? Are you okay?”

“No. I mean yeah, sort of,” she hiccups. “I phoned David like a thousand times and he’s not picking up.”

“He’s on a vendors meeting trip,” he replied, pulling himself up to a seated position and fumbling for the lamp. “He’s been stressed, he’s probably left his phone on silent.”

“Oh. I forgot. I’m sorry, Patrick, I...um....”

“Alexis, you’re scaring me. What’s going on?”

“I just like...I was working on-set super latein this...like, it’s like the middle of no-where, back-woods location. And I rented this car to get back to Toronto, but it broke down on the side of the road. This like...deserted, nothing road. And it’s pitch-black and it’s snowing like crazy and I have no idea where I am! And I phoned a tow-truck but they said they can’t just drive down a highway for hours looking for me because I can’t tell them where I am, and I tried phoning 911, and they said they can’t really like...tell exactly where I am or whatever on their like...phone-tracking system because of the lack of...cell towers around, or something. And they’ll send someone out and to look for me in the area and to look for headlights, but I can’t see two feet in front of me, let alone headlights. And I’ve got like 9% battery left. And it’s freezing and my engine won’t start and I’m going to die out here and I don’t know what to do!”

He sucked in a breath. “Um...”

“I know there’s like...literally nothing you can do. I don’t even know why I called. But I always called David when I was in trouble and David wasn’t answering and...I’m scared."

She sounds so small, then, that Patrick’s heart clenches.

“And like, I was being responsible! I’ve got a grown-up job that I’ve built for myself from, like, the ground-up. I survived all of that crazy stuff that I used to do and now I’m going to freeze to death in a freak storm in a shitty car on my way back from a mediocre film set? In a rental car that I specifically got because it had a high safety rating. I checked the safety rating! And I paid extra for insurance, I did everything right! And I know it’s late, but I'm scared and I was hoping...will you stay on the phone with me, Patrick? Until my phone dies, at least?”

“Alexis,” he replies calmly, already pulling on his socks as he pinches the phone between his ear and shoulder. “Do you have Find My Friends?”

“What?”

“It’s an app. I can send you a request if you give me your email, and you can share your exact location with me. Then I can come get you. Your phone has GPS.”

“You can do that?” She hiccups again. “And come get me? But you’re like...so far away. And it’s snowing so hard…”

“Alexis, just text me your email address. Share your location with me and then just try to keep warm until I get to you, okay?”

She chokes out a watery laugh. “Thank you. Seriously, I don’t even know what to say.”

“You don’t have to say anything.” He grabs a handful of blankets from the sofa and one of David’s (many) coats from the heavy iron coatrack that David had spent far too much on. “Don’t use your phone unless absolutely necessary, preserve the battery in case I need to call you. Keep it close to your body, it’ll die faster in the cold.”

She laughs shakily in his ear. “Aren’t you a little boyscout, knowing all of this.”

“I don’t want to age myself, but my boyscout years pre-date cell phone GPS tracking.”

He throws the blankets in the backseat of the car, and climbs into the driver’s seat, cranking the heat. It’s really starting to come down, and he suspects that it’s only going to get worse on the drive to get Alexis. Thank god for winter tires.

“Alright, I’m going to hang up, okay? Remember-“

“Text you my email, download that app, and send you my location,” she replies, sounding stronger by the second. “You really are a button, Button.”

Patrick can’t help but smile. “What are brother-in-laws for?”

* * *

The weather’s even worse than he anticipated. What should have taken him less than two hours was taking him nearly three.

He could barely see the end of his car through the storm, and by the time he reaches Alexis’ location on the app, he’s basically driving at a crawl. Slowly, he pulls over to the side of the road, though he’s not entirely sure where the side of the road actually is. He lays on the horn, again and again, hoping she can hear it over the howling wind.

The chill that consumes him the moment he opens his car door is immense, wind and snow flooding inside despite the high heat.

“Alexis!” He screams, pulling toque more firmly over his ears. David always nags him to wear a scarf, and now he regrets always brushing him off. “Alexis!”

Somewhere nearby, he hears a heavy thunk, though it’s difficult to tell over the wind.

“Patrick?”

“Alexis!”

“Patrick!”

He manages to get his phone flashlight on despite his frozen fingers, lifting it over his head and shaking it back and forth, hoping she might catch sight of it through the flurry.

“Alexis!”

And then she’s there, throwing herself into his arms with such force he nearly drops the phone. Her arms clasp tightly around the back of his neck, and he wraps his own around her waist, nearly staggering with the relief of it. “You must be frozen,” he half-yells in her ear. “Let’s get back to the car.”

He helps her fold herself into the passenger seat before trudging to open the back door and gather the blankets and David’s coat, piling them on top of her and then returning to his side of the car.

In the yellow glow of the interior lights, Alexis is a mess, mascara streaking down her face and her lips pale, her white fingers thrust against the heating vent. She’s underdressed for the weather, in a coat and boots meant to look good rather than keep her warm. She’d never have made it until morning in this kind of cold. If emergency services hadn’t been able to find her in time... The thought of it is about enough to make him sick with grief.

“You okay?” he asks, turning up the heat as high as it will go and watching Alexis shiver in delight.

“Um, besides feeling like I got stuck too long in a cryogenic chamber, yeah. Thanks to you.” She offers him a watery smile. “I’d boop your nose, but I can’t move my fingers.”

He laughs at that. “I’ll take an I.O.U. Now, do you need to be in Toronto today?”

She shakes her head as Patrick releases her fingers, pressing her hands again against the vents when he turns up the heat. “Only for my flight, but that’s definitely getting cancelled with this weather. I don’t need to be anywhere but New York by Friday for an Interflix premiere concept meeting.”

This is the first time, he realizes, that Alexis hasn't been able to get herself out of a mess. Despite the deceptive appearance of her flighty behaviour and impractical shoes, she’s the single most capable person Patrick has ever known. Maybe even more so than David, who always has a knack for landing on his feet despite a lot of complaining and anxiety beforehand. He can tell, then, that for the first time in her life, Alexis hadn’t been able to problem-solve her way out of a dangerous situation. Wits and determination were no match for harsh winters and unrelenting weather. This wasn’t a wild circumstance that she had gotten herself into and could get herself out of. This was a freak accident could have happened to anyone. That could have killed anyone. And she’s badly shaken.

He nods. “Alright, then. Schitt's Creek is a bit closer than Toronto. Let’s head back to the cottage and get you warmed up. We can worry about getting you to an airport later. I’ll call a tow truck tomorrow so they can come get the car, okay?”

Alexis lets out a soft breath, still teary-eyed and pale, though the tips of her white fingers and pale cheeks are beginning to flush from the warmth of the car. She smiles. “Okay.”

* * *

He’s been asleep for almost two hours when he gets two phone calls in a row. It’s a disorienting moment of déjà-vu, although when he drags the phone off the side table and to his ear, it isn’t a panicked Alexis on the other end this time.

“It’s Alexis!”

“Your name is David.”

“Patrick!” David snaps. Not in the mood for jokes, then. “It’s Alexis. I woke up this morning with _thirteen_ missed calls and three voicemails from her. She’s stuck somewhere out in the middle of no where, her car broke down! Now she’s not answering her phone, oh god, she froze to death and it’s all my fault! I let her down and now she’s dead, Patrick! What do I do?”

“David, stop,” he soothes. “Just take a breath. She’s here. Alexis is here.”

There’s a long pause over the line. “What?”

“She’s here at the house. She’s asleep in the guest room, safe and sound. When she couldn’t reach you last night, she called me. We used that ‘find your location’ app. I made her drink her weight in camomile tea and tucked her into bed with a pair of your pajamas and my wool socks two hours ago. She’s alright.”

He can hear David sob, and as hard as these days apart have been, he wants now more than anything to be there with his husband. “She called you?” he stutters at last.

“She did.”

“And you just...drove through a snowstorm in the middle of the night to get her? How long did it take you to get to her?”

“Not too long,” Patrick says meekly. “I wasn’t going to leave her there.”

“I just...” David is crying and hiccuping, that same heart-wrenching stammer that he heard from Alexis last night. “I don’t love the thought of you driving on dangerous roads…”

“David,” he murmurs. “You’re my husband. That makes her my sister now, too. You know I would do anything for you and your family. _Our_ family.”

“Fuck. I love you so much.”

Patrick grins. “I love you, too. Once Alexis and I have slept and we’re up, we’ll FaceTime you later, okay? She doesn’t have to be in New York until Friday, so if the weather clears up and you can get home on time, you’ll have a few days with her.”

“I love you. And for the record I know you wouldn’t have just...left her there. Logically I do. I guess I just...I’m used to being the only one to try to help her when she’s in trouble and can’t get out of it on her own.”

Not for the first time, he thinks of a young David, spending his late teens and all of his twenties in a constant state of fear, trying to help get Alexis out of whatever jam she was in, answering his phone at all hours of the night and hoping it wasn’t the worst possible news on the other end. He truly did like his in-laws, but the thought of the burden of Alexis’ antics always falling on a young David’s shoulders angered him. If something had happened to Alexis, David would forever blame himself, even though he was in an entirely different province and could do nothing to help her. The weight of that responsibility was too much for anyone to bear. She may have left her more wild years behind her, but it didn’t stop Patrick from wanting to gather up a younger version of his husband in his arms and try help him through it. “We’re married. You never have to do anything all on your own again.”

“Fuck. Don’t say things like that when I’m too far away to do anything about it.”

“You can make good on that when you get back. Now, as much as I want to hear about the meetings you’ve got coming up, I haven’t slept all night, and I don’t think I can keep my eyes open.”

He can hear the sound of rustling over the line. David is undoubtedly getting back into bed, now that his panic has been soothed and he doesn’t need to be up yet.

“‘Course. You should get some rest. Alexis will probably wake you up soon enough with her obnoxious hair dryer.”

“Mm. A Rose in my bathroom with an obnoxious hair dryer. That’s going to take some getting used to.”

“Mmkay,” David snaps back. “When I do it, it’s cute.”

“What about that weird little snorting sound you make when you’re trying not to cry? Also cute?”

“I take it back. You’re the worst husband, I want a divorce.”

Patrick grins. “David, I’ve seen you attempt to do paperwork. If you try to divorce me, you’d probably end up accidentally changing both our names.”

“Just for that, I am going to file paperwork to change your name, and it’s going to be something awful. Apple North Blue Ivy Brewer.”

He pulls the blankets up to his chest, letting his eyes drift shut. “If you change my name, you’ll have to change my name on all of our business information and annual return forms.”

“That sounds dull. Guess I’ll stick with Patrick for a while more.”

“As long as you’re sticking with me, you can call me anything you like.”

David huffs, and Patrick knows, can sense, that he’s smiling. “That was corny as hell.”

“You love it.”

“I love you,” David replies, switching gears from snarky to sincere in an instant. “Thank you. For going to get her. For keeping her safe. Is she okay? I mean-“

“I know. Pretty shaken up, I think. But otherwise fine. A bit of mild frostbite starting on her fingers and toes, but nothing serious. No blisters or anything when we warmed her back up, just a little bit of swelling. That’ll disappear soon enough.”

David lets out a long breath. “Ew. But good. That’s good. Sorry, you literally just told me you need to sleep.”

“I know you were scared, baby. It’s okay. Everybody’s safe and sound.”

“Because of you,” David breathes, voice soft and loving in his ear. “You always make everything okay.”

* * *

He’s fielding taunts from Alexis over his complete lack of knowledge about pop culture when the front door opens.

David drops his bag and walks straight into him, throwing his arms around Patrick’s shoulders and pulling him in for a deep kiss.

“Ew, David!” Alexis protests. “I’m sitting literally right here, do you have to French your little husband right in front of me?”

“Little?”

David huffs. “If you hadn’t almost turned yourself into a human popsicle, you wouldn’t have to watch.”

“Okay, this time it wasn’t my fault!” she pouts, throwing down the magazine she had been flipping through, one of David’s fashion magazines that Patrick still can’t tell apart.

He’s spent the past couple of days with Alexis, when he isn’t at the shop, and despite frequent visits to New York, it doesn’t quite feel the same. And as much as he prides himself on being level-headed in a crisis, he has to admit he’s been badly shaken, too, seeing Alexis half-frozen and knowing that she very well may not have made it through the night. Patrick is more than happy to have her here for a few days, sharing breakfast with her and having Stevie over for drinks and visiting the Café Tropical for dinner (and teasing her to the point where she makes the sort of unhappy noises she usually directs at David and throws a balled-up napkin at his head), and just generally knowing that she’s close by, safe and sound.

David only grins, releasing Patrick to pull Alexis into a slightly-too-tight hug. “I’m glad you’re okay,” he murmurs into her shoulder.

“I’m glad you married Patrick,” she fires back, meeting his eye over David’s shoulder with a watery smile. “Sebastian defo would have let me freeze to death and then taken polaroids of my dead body for his next showing for some kind of ‘meditation on the fleeting nature of life.’”

“Well, we’re all glad I didn’t marry Sebastian.”

“I certainly am,” Patrick calls from the kitchen. “Pancakes are almost ready.”

“Heroic rescues of my family members and pancakes for breakfast?” David sighs. “Anyone who says that isn’t true love can kiss my ass.”

Patrick piles the pancakes high on a plate (chocolate chip for David, blueberry for Alexis) and joins them at the table. “Is that just limited to people who say that, though, or can I volunteer?”

“Oh my god, ewwww!” Alexis growls, clapping her hands over her hears. “Stop being so gross!”

* * *

They end up on the sofa, David’s head resting on his shoulder, Alexis’ legs thrown over his thighs so her feet lay in David’s lap, a position David protests vehemently but ultimately does nothing about.

They bicker through all of Breakfast at Tiffany’s, mooning over George Peppard and reminiscing about Moira’s Audrey Heburn phase. _Simple black dresses and a capsule wardrobe? She lost interest in two weeks._ When Patrick exclaims at the end that Paul and Holly won’t last six months together, they both boo him loudly.

“Just for that, you have to get up and go get the wine.”

“Yeah, Patrick!” Alexis chirps, waving her empty glass at him. “Refill!”

“I don’t recall table service being anywhere in my wedding vows,” he says pointedly, though he’s already fetched the bottle and is refilling their glasses.

“No? That’s funny because it was definitely in there,” David says with a grin.

“Mmhmm. I totally remember it, too,” Alexis says, trying to wink although three glasses of wine has made it a difficult task.

Patrick eases himself down onto the sofa, Alexis immediately throwing her legs over his, David attempting to swat away her feet. “David! My feet are still cold, I nearly got frostbite!”

“Mmkay, it’s been a _week,_ your feet aren’t still cold. And are you sure you got frostbite? I thought maybe your toes were just getting fat.”

That does the trick, and Alexis jerks back in mock horror, hands clamping around the ends of her feet. “They are not _fat,_ they were _swollen_ from nearly getting frostbite! It’s like a…thing with the blood vessels expanding too quickly, or something! I looked it up!”

“I’m sharing my house with two overgrown toddlers,” Patrick sighs, trying his best to hide his smile.

David huffs, taking another long sip of his wine. “Um, excuse me, but both of our names are on the mortgage. And you knew what level of crazy you were getting into when you married me.”

“Mm, now _that_ I’m pretty sure was in our wedding vows, somewhere.” They grin, moving together for a chaste kiss, Patrick revelling in the feel of David’s gold rings pressed against his skin when his hand comes up to cup the back of his neck. He wonders if it will ever get old, that reminder of their marriage. 

“Ew,” Alexis protests, but she smiles at them softly when they break apart, her tone easy and warm. “So. More wine?”

* * *

When they drop Alexis off at the airport, Patrick is surprised at his own flair of emotion at having to bid her goodbye. He’s always sad to see her go, but this feels different. Patrick has never had a younger sibling, but he suspects the desire to just wrap her up and keep her safe is not an unfamiliar feeling for David.

She throws her arms around David and then him, holding onto him just a bit tighter than normal before she’s striding through the gates in her high-heeled boots.

They wait until she disappears from sight before climbing back into the car, David looking emotional as he settles into the passenger seat. He turns to Patrick, and his saddened expression softens into a knowing smile. David reaches up to stroke his cheek, and it’s only then that Patrick realizes that he’s a bit teary-eyed himself. He laughs, raising his hand to rest over David’s, linking their fingers together.

“She’ll be alright,” David vows, as though Patrick isn’t the one who should be reassuring him. But then, David has more experience than him at this, doesn’t he? Knowing deep down that Alexis is always capable of getting herself out of a jam and, if she can’t do it alone, of knowing exactly who to call. Patrick’s never had a little sister to worry about, before, this is all still rather new to him.

But David will help him through it.

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to use the tag "twin brothers who kiss" because Alexis basically has two brothers now but I thought that might give people the wrong impression...


End file.
